The selected articles embed the concept in core theoretical work in economics, political science, sociology, development theory, and philosophy. Topics include: contemporary conceptual and philosophical foundations; forms of social capital; and the relation of social capital to both development and democracy.

Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction Elinor Ostrom and T.K. Ahn PART I FORERUNNERS 1. Alexis de Tocqueville ([1840] 1945), ‘Of the Use Which the Americans Make of Public Associations in Civil Life’, ‘Of the Relation between Public Associations and the Newspapers’, ‘Relation of Civil to Political Associations’, and ‘How the Americans Combat Individualism by the Principle of Self-Interest Rightly Understood’ 2. Lyda Judson Hanifan (1920), ‘Social Capital – Its Development and Use’ 3. Theodore W. Schultz (1961), ‘Investment in Human Capital’ 4. Jane Jacobs (1961), ‘The Uses of City Neighborhoods’ PART II CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTUAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS 5. Mark S. Granovetter (1973), ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’ 6. Mark Granovetter (1985), ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’ 7. James S. Coleman (1987), ‘Norms as Social Capital’ 8. James S. Coleman (1988), ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’ 9. Vincent Ostrom (1980), ‘Artisanship and Artifact’ PART III FORMS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL 10. Ronald S. Burt (1992), excerpt from ‘The Social Structure of Competition’ 11. Robert D. Putnam, Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Y. Nanetti (1993), ‘Social Capital and Institutional Success’ 12. Elinor Ostrom (1992), ‘Institutions as Rules-in-Use’ 13. Diego Gambetta (2000), ‘Can We Trust Trust?’ 14. Francis Fukuyama (2000), Social Capital and Civil Society 15. Partha Dasgupta (2002), ‘Social Capital and Economic Performance: Analytics’ [Revised and abridged version of: Partha Dasgupta (2000), ‘Economic Progress and the Idea of Social Capital’ PART IV SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEVELOPMENT 16. Michael Woolcock (1998), ‘Social Capital and Economic Development: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework’ 17. Francis Fukuyama (1995), ‘Social Capital and the Global Economy’ 18. Michael Woolcock and Deepa Narayan (2000), ‘Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy’ 19. Paul Collier and Jan Willem Gunning (1999), ‘Explaining African Economic Performance’ 20. Stephen Knack and Philip Keefer (1997), ‘Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation’ PART V SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMOCRACY 21. Robert D. Putnam (1993), ‘The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life’ 22. Robert D. Putnam (1995), ‘Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America’ 23. John Brehm and Wendy Rahn (1997), ‘Individual-Level Evidence for the Causes and Consequences of Social Capital’ Name Index